Next Friday

So-called "black" movies like "Next Friday" aren't supposed to appeal to white audiences. People normally justify this generalization by pointing to some nebulous matrix of concerns black people have which white people cannot identify with, and perhaps this is true in some cases. But whether you're black, white, yellow, brown, or anything else, if you like your comedies splattered all over with jokes relating to excrement, drugs, ethnic stereotyping, and people acting as stupid as only people in dumb comedies can, you'll love "Next Friday." "Next Friday," in fact, should finally unify the viewing public across racial lines, as long as that viewing public agrees that the word "tasteless" is not in its vocabulary.

Ice Cube picks up right where the plot left off in "Friday," as his nemesis Debo escapes from jail, necessitating Ice's abscondment to his uncle's house in the suburbs. Hijinks and derring-do ensue, mostly relating to Ice's attempts to recover enough money to pay his uncle's overdue property taxes, date the hottarific sister of some Hispanic thugs living across the street, avoid the natural disaster that is Debo, and recover enough from numerous marijuana highs to become cognizant of what is happening around him.

Ice Cube wrote the script, and hand-picked his cast. Although Cube himself is not a talented comedic performer, he is as genial as he was in the first film, and he certainly has the good sense to surround himself with people who are recognizably talented comedians. Chief among these is Mike Epps, who here assumes the role of "Cube's goofy associate" that Chris Tucker abdicated after "Friday." Epps's rant about his vicious ex-girlfriend's sister is one of the most indelible comic moments to come down the pike for some time, and he delivers himself of numerous soliloquies during the course of the film that almost match that one for fizzy hilarity. John Witherspoon reprises his role as Cube's father, and for his troubles is put through a wringer of excremental stunts that will undoubtedly disgust everyone with a mental age over 25 and delight everyone else. He reacts with his usual blustering, jittery rage.

But the true star of this movie is marijuana, endo, ganja...whatever you want to call it. The opening credits are formed magically out of coalescing Mary Jane smoke. Two extended marijuana scenes feature heavily in advancing the plot, and in addition there is another which can only be described as a gratuitous marijuana scene. (Anyone who ever thought moviegoing would come to this, raise your blunt in the air, and wave it round like you just don't cayy-eer.) I must confess at this juncture that I am unable to appreciate Cube's explorations of the subtleties of marijuana smoking, but let me just say that it looks really amusing in this film.

In this way the present film departs from its predecessor, which had at best an equivocal view of the usefulness of izm. "Friday" also had things like "a point, sort of" and "a moral message, kinda" which are completely lost on this film. Their absence would be distressing if "Next Friday" weren't so damn funny. "Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls" took in around $100 million at the box office. It will be a crime if "Next Friday" doesn't do as well. They are similar films, but "Next Friday" is distinctly better, putting forth more and better humor more of the time. In fact, this is probably the best gross-out comedy to hit theaters since "South Park: Bigger Longer, Uncut." And everyone should be able to agree on that.

I've always thought it was important for movie reviewers to attempt to foster racial harmony. This, I believe, is the first review of a marijuana comedy in which I acknowledge that I have never smoked up myself. (I still haven't, as of 9:52 pm, 7/19/03.) Hey, I know what funny is. I also know a bunch of synonyms for marijuana because I listen to hip-hop music.

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